Marco Passarani
Tom Magic Feet talks to Roman techno lynchpin Marco Passarani about his 6 Katun album and the coming of age for his Nature Records imprint.
“The first period we were learning. Now I know what I have to do. Also, I feel that something is changing in dance music, in music in general. At first Nature represented a kind of sound, a kind of Roman school. Now everything is changing. We are trying to bring the things we have learned from electronic music into different kinds of music – hip hop, cheap disco, everything. Nature will no longer be a label that represents only one kind of sound, it will be 360 degrees of electronic music.”
The lynchpin of Rome’s techno scene for most of the last decade, Marco Passarani is outlining the future of Nature Records, the label he launched six years ago. Just like Doctor Who himself, Nature is to be reborn, a metamorphosis Marco is marking with the release of his third solo album, 6 Katun: “This is the end of the first period of Nature, the first productions when everything was disorganised, kind of random. From now on everything will be much more professional and organised.”
The album’s title is no accident, of course, and is drawn from Marco's interest in ancient mythology and history. A katun represents 7,200 years, so logically six katun is equivalent to 43,200 years. “This is a number that you can find in many many legends from Northern Europe to India and South America. It’s something that always comes back, if you read the books it’s always there.”
Quasi-mythological concepts aside, 6 Katun is a set of futuristic electro rhythms and impressively detailed programming that straddles the divide between cleverness and the funk with ease. He’s come a long way since his first release surfaced on DJ T-1000’s now-deceased Generator label in 1993. “I was trying to develop my sound in the very beginning. I had many influences, from Detroit, the Red Planet series had a very big impact on me, so did The Final Frontier by Underground Resistance. Then I had all these European influences too, like Aphex Twin’s early stuff. So that stuff was not very pure, not very me. I still get a good feeling about that stuff, though.”
Turns out some of 6 Katun is pretty old anyway, with the inclusion of three tracks recorded between ’94 and ’96 that were to have seen a release through Warp. Although he points out that Warp did everything by the book, Marco blames the downturn in the electronic music market at the time for their decision to abandon the EP. “Finally after two years I got the rights back and instead of pressing the record I thought I would put it into my album to mark the end of the first cycle. I didn’t talk about this before because I didn’t want anyone thinking I was trying to use Warp’s name in my promotion.”
On the album’s sleeve is a graphic of a running man who changes into a data stream, neatly mirroring the changes afoot at Final Frontier, the Submerge-like parent company set up to oversee Nature and the other Roman labels he works with. For this next phase of Nature’s assault he’s lined up a roster he thinks can take them all on, including Jolly Music, J’S Pool and Monomorph (previously known as D’Arcangelo). The last piece of the puzzle fell into place when Final Frontier signed a worldwide distribution deal with Ideal which should see their music reach outlets much further afield.
Describing most Italian dance music as “totally shit”, he argues that the city of Rome stands alone. “Rome is very different. We were the second major city in Europe to have rave parties – that’s why so many guys in Rome are into the music, but not outside the city. It’s completely out of the system. But we are happy about that, it keeps the sound safe from contamination.”
The lynchpin of Rome’s techno scene for most of the last decade, Marco Passarani is outlining the future of Nature Records, the label he launched six years ago. Just like Doctor Who himself, Nature is to be reborn, a metamorphosis Marco is marking with the release of his third solo album, 6 Katun: “This is the end of the first period of Nature, the first productions when everything was disorganised, kind of random. From now on everything will be much more professional and organised.”
The album’s title is no accident, of course, and is drawn from Marco's interest in ancient mythology and history. A katun represents 7,200 years, so logically six katun is equivalent to 43,200 years. “This is a number that you can find in many many legends from Northern Europe to India and South America. It’s something that always comes back, if you read the books it’s always there.”
Quasi-mythological concepts aside, 6 Katun is a set of futuristic electro rhythms and impressively detailed programming that straddles the divide between cleverness and the funk with ease. He’s come a long way since his first release surfaced on DJ T-1000’s now-deceased Generator label in 1993. “I was trying to develop my sound in the very beginning. I had many influences, from Detroit, the Red Planet series had a very big impact on me, so did The Final Frontier by Underground Resistance. Then I had all these European influences too, like Aphex Twin’s early stuff. So that stuff was not very pure, not very me. I still get a good feeling about that stuff, though.”
Turns out some of 6 Katun is pretty old anyway, with the inclusion of three tracks recorded between ’94 and ’96 that were to have seen a release through Warp. Although he points out that Warp did everything by the book, Marco blames the downturn in the electronic music market at the time for their decision to abandon the EP. “Finally after two years I got the rights back and instead of pressing the record I thought I would put it into my album to mark the end of the first cycle. I didn’t talk about this before because I didn’t want anyone thinking I was trying to use Warp’s name in my promotion.”
On the album’s sleeve is a graphic of a running man who changes into a data stream, neatly mirroring the changes afoot at Final Frontier, the Submerge-like parent company set up to oversee Nature and the other Roman labels he works with. For this next phase of Nature’s assault he’s lined up a roster he thinks can take them all on, including Jolly Music, J’S Pool and Monomorph (previously known as D’Arcangelo). The last piece of the puzzle fell into place when Final Frontier signed a worldwide distribution deal with Ideal which should see their music reach outlets much further afield.
Describing most Italian dance music as “totally shit”, he argues that the city of Rome stands alone. “Rome is very different. We were the second major city in Europe to have rave parties – that’s why so many guys in Rome are into the music, but not outside the city. It’s completely out of the system. But we are happy about that, it keeps the sound safe from contamination.”
